Re: [Leica] kids? leica? a stern reprimand from the PLUG

[Alastair Firkin <firkin@netconnect.com.au>]

>Kyle Cassidy jotted down the following:
>
>>  photography is about the RESULT not the JOURNEY.
>
>Oh boy.  Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong again.  Photography *is* the
>journey.  The meeting of other people.  Switching into visual rather than
>linguistic processing.  The sweet smell of hypo.  The frantic waiving of
>arms under the enlarger light.  Presenting a print to a friend.  Acquiring a
>skill and a craft.  Learning more about how you see the world.  Learning to
>see light.
>
>The negative, scan, or print is merely a tool, an admission ticket to this
>journey.
>


G'day all,

I too like the journey rather than the result, though the result may 
be a pointer to how successful the journey was ;-)

Having said this, the M6 may not be the best way to take 
grandchildren, BUT if it is all you have, then start to learn to use 
it. I love to take images of my dogs, and at first I thought that I 
would need autofocus to "get" the images I wanted of them "in 
action". I toyed with ideas, and tested my "photographic" brain, till 
I decided to pre-focus at a suitable distance and move the camera 
into position without looking through the viewfinder. I followed the 
dogs much like a movie cam clicking at "appropriate" moments. The 
more I did this the better I got at predicting the animals movements, 
and soon the images improved from a bum disappearing in the right 
hand top corner to some fantastic shots. Occasionally I'll add the 
flash to freeze action like some of the street images we have seen 
here.

I've now used this technique, usually with  a 35mm lens with children 
as well. You need to get a feel for distance and for the framing, but 
its faster than any autofocus I've handled (I admit not a lot).

The test of the photographer on his journey is to capture the image 
with or despite the limitations and features of his/her equipment. 
That challenge will see you being able to solve all sorts of other 
quandries.

cheers


- -- 
Alastair Firkin

http://www.afirkin.com